New PayPal and Google partnership will make checking out easier

A new partnership between PayPal and Google will make checking out online easier for you.

Under the new program, if you link your PayPal account to one Google service, you’ll see your PayPal account throughout all of Google.

This “sign up once, sign up forever” linking will make everything more cohesive.

The world of mobile payments seems like a death match between dozens of companies all vying to be your payment method of choice. Google Pay, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Samsung Pay, Zelle, Chase Pay…the list goes on forever.

That’s why it’s good to see companies playing nice together, like with the recent news from PayPal and Google. Soon, when you link your PayPal account to a Google property, your PayPal account will then be accessible across the entire Google ecosystem, without you having to link it again.

For example, let’s say you want to buy an app on the Google Play Store. When you check out, you will be given the option to link your PayPal account and use that to process the transaction.

The most popular US mobile payment app might surprise you

The Starbucks app is the most popular mobile payments app in the U.S., according to data from research firm eMarketer (paywall) (via Recode).
Starbucks was said to have 20.7 million users in 2017 compared to Apple …

Now, after that, let’s say you want to buy something from the Google Store, like the Google Home Max. When you go to check out, you’ll see your PayPal account already listed as an optional method of payment – even if you’ve never bought anything from the Google Store before.

This integration is possible due to a new partnership between Google and PayPal. Presumably, both companies want the same thing: for you to turn to them for your mobile payment needs. With the mobile payment industry so fierce right now, two companies banding together against the competition is probably seen as an advantage to both PayPal and Google – even if you end up using the other company instead.

It’s kind of a “you help me, and I’ll help you” situation.

The PayPal blog entry about this new partnership doesn’t mention a specific timeline for the rollout of the integration feature. However, we would expect it to be only a few weeks away if PayPal is taking the time to announce it now.